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Core Project Team Members, Roles and Qualifications

Our Core Project Team comprises a group of researchers, healthcare providers, data/technical analysts and trainees. The team is highly interdisciplinary, spanning the domains of medicine, psychology, nursing, nutrition, economics, statistics, epidemiology, informatics and health law. It brings together significant expertise from three CIHR New Emerging Teams (NET) in palliative EOL care, two CIHR strategic training initiative (STI) in health research, a CIHR Partnership in Health System Initiative (PHSI) in timely EOL access, and a CIHR Interdisciplinary Team Grant on drug policy, where a great deal of collaboration has already been established. In addition, our team can provide excellent analytical training/mentorship in EOL care surveillance. We can offer advanced scientific and methodological training in computer-assisted quality improvement, evidence-based decision making and information management/analysis not available elsewhere. While Victoria and Edmonton are the two primary sites where intensive training/mentoring is offered, we plan to create a virtual community of learning using communication technologies and facilitative processes to allow Network team, partners/collaborators to interact in real-time on a regular basis. The team member roles and qualifications are summarized in Exhibit 9 and brief description follows on the next page. Their resumes and references are in the Core Project Team Member Profile document provided in Schedule C - D3 Form.

Francis is a co-principal applicant responsible for the creation, coordination and operation of the Network. Francis' current research is in palliative care informatics, where he examines the use of information systems by clinicians/managers in EOL decision making. He has experience managing large-scale multi-institutional initiatives, programs and teams. During 2002-07 Francis was the PI of a CIHR Strategic Training Program grant in health informatics. Francis is now co-PI of a CIHR New Emerging Team grant on overcoming communication barriers in EOL transitions and the PHSI study to enhance timely EOL access, and co-chair of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control BC/Yukon (CSCC BC/Y) Hospice Palliative End-of-life (HPEOL) Common Data Set Working Group to develop common HPEOL data standards.

Michael is a co-principal applicant responsible for co-leading the Network in the design of information products, KT and coordination with partners/collaborators. Michael is the co-PI of our CIHR-NET and PHSI initiatives for Vancouver Island and co-chair of the CSCC BC/Yukon HPEOL Common Data Set Working Group. He is a practicing palliative medicine physician and Research Director at Victoria Hospice with 25+ years experience in clinical and secondary use of health information, including health system performance analysis/reporting.

Mary is a co-applicant responsible for statistical methods and analytic algorithm design for the team. Mary is Founding Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre at UVic that offers statistical advice and services to researchers at the university and beyond. Mary is a member of the research team in our CIHR-NET and PHSI initiatives providing expert guidance on statistical data analysis/interpretation. She has been instrumental in leading our EOL survival analysis and survival nomogram design.

Nola is a co-applicant responsible for legislative and legal issues in patient data access for the Network. Nola teaches and conducts research in health care law, public health law and privacy law, with a focus on privacy issues in health research and informatics. She has expertise in Canadian privacy laws and policies, has written major research reports and educational modules on health information and surveillance for national health organizations. She serves on research ethics boards and has assisted organizations in privacy impact assessments.

Barbara is a co-applicant responsible for assisting in the design /use of the information products and KT. Barbara is a Registered Nurse with a wealth of knowledge, clinical experiences and expertise in hospice palliative care including Hospice Palliative Care Accreditation processes. Barbara is an original member of CSCC BC/Yukon HPEOL Common Data Set Working Group and is co-investigator in the CIHR funded research study entitled, Access to Care at the End of Life: Encounters between Home Care Nurses and Family Caregivers. (2008).

Jeff is a co-applicant responsible for access/use of the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) datasets, assisting in design/use of information products and KT. Jeff has extensive experience as information analyst and database administrator. In his previous role as a pharmacy information analyst he has worked on projects involving the implementation and ongoing maintenance of pharmacy and health care databases related to cancer care and treatment.

Malcolm is a co-applicant responsible for KT and the design of information products with focus on patient safety in EOL care. Malcolm is a health services epidemiologist specialized in methodology, with expertise in pharmaceutical policy research and KT studies. He is PI of a CIHR Interdisciplinary Team Grant in drug policy related to forecasting, financing, governance, public values and evidence.

Vickie is a co-applicant responsible for access/use of datasets from the Alberta Capital Health Palliative Care Program. Vickie's research is in understanding/managing cancer cachexia-associated malnutrition and weight loss. She is PI of a CIHR-NET on cancer-associated malnutrition and wasting, and co-investigator in a CIHR-STI in translational cancer research. Vickie is currently studying survival prediction based on nutritional features of cancer patients and blood work.

Konrad is a co-applicant responsible for the economic analysis methods, facilitating dataset access/use in Alberta and KT. Konrad is a health economics/services researcher with expertise in health services utilization and performance reviews especially in HPEOL care. He has published extensively in scientific journals and commissioned studies, for example studies into the effects of health reform and technological change on health/economic outcomes of dying patients and their families. Konrad has developed tools to measure the cost and performance associated with financing and delivery of health/social services.

Robin is a co-applicant responsible for design/use of the information products and KT for the Network. Robin is a co-investigator of a CIHR-NET on cancer pain management. He has conducted numerous studies into the design/use of clinical assessment tools in palliative care. Robin's present research focus is on developing a TNM Staging System for cancer pain.

Cheryl is a co-applicant responsible for secondary analysis especially in burden of disease/dying from psycho-social and needs aspects. Cheryl is a registered Psychologist with expertise in psychosocial oncology and palliative care. Her clinical/research interests are in biopsychosocial aspects of life-threatening illness, including psychosocial aspects of pain and suffering; experience of hope at end of life; symptom assessment in palliative EOL care; and measurement and evaluation in vulnerable populations.

Craig is a co-applicant responsible for liaising with our Ottawa partner on dataset access/use and KT with an emphasis on policy/practice impact. Since 2006, Craig has been involved in developing a research program for palliative care informatics to enhance the design and development of information systems to support palliative practice/program development. This work has taken place at local, provincial and national levels. He has also made a methodological contribution to the design, implementation and evaluation of information systems through combining participatory design and grounded-theory methodologies. These have been applied to domain and task ontology development and the application of such ontologies to information system design.

Ju is the data analyst responsible for coordinating the extraction, consolidation, and analysis/reporting of datasets for the Network. Ju is a physician trained in China with a Masters degree in Medicine from Tongji Medical University in China, and a BSc in Health Informatics from UVic. She has worked as a research assistant in different database related projects at the School. Ju is currently the data analyst for our CIHR-NET and PHSI initiatives responsible for all statistical data analysis/reporting using multiple anonymized EOL datasets.

Dennis is the technical analyst responsible for designing the Web-based technology platform for our Network, and a junior data analyst to learn EOL cancer surveillance methods. Dennis recently graduated from UVic with a MSc in health informatics. He is currently engaged in research relating to clinical terminologies and data standards such as SNOMED CT, ICD and HL7 in palliative care. He also has a background in web application development and worked as the Asia Pacific Web Developer in DuPont, Singapore prior to coming to Canada.

Heather is the project coordinator and junior data analyst responsible for extraction/use of the HPEOL datasets and learning of EOL cancer surveillance methods. Heather has a BSc in Mathematics and is now completing her MSc in Health Informatics degree at UVic. She has worked as a co-op student in different healthcare organizations and departments e.g. Performance Monitoring and Improvement, and IM/IT at Vancouver Island Health Authority, and Clinical Informatics at BC Cancer Agency.

Jin is the junior data analyst responsible for analysis of the BC Cancer Agency dataset. Ju has two BSc degrees, one in Computer Science and another in Health Information Science. She is currently completing her MSc in Health Information Science at Uvic. She has extensive experience with a variety of Canadian Institute for Health Information health databases including DAD, NACRS, National Trauma Registry as well as other databases such as Vital Statistics. She was one of the primary analysts for CIHI Western jurisdictions EOL study and has also contributed to producing other CIHI reports such as Alternative Level of Care in Canada, Hospitalizations, Early Revisions and Infections Following Joint Replacement Surgery.